In terms of news today, our friends at The Criterion Collection have just unveiled their February 2019 slate and it includes some very nice titles indeed. It starts with Ingmar Bergman’s Shame (Spine #961 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 2/5. Next up is Henri-Georges Clouzot’s La vérité (Spine #960 – Blu-ray and DVD) and an upgrade of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz (Spine #411 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 2/12. Then you can look forward to Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice (Spine #962 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 2/19 and Charles Burnett’s To Sleep with Anger (Spine #963 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 2/26. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a little bit of ground to cover today. We’ve been updating our servers and whatnot, on top of which some Russian/Ukrainian bot army decided to launch a DDOS attack on The Bits for random unknown reasons. It should be noted that this kind of thing happens to most websites on the Internet pretty regularly. But it’s a wonder that the Internet works at all these days, with all the trolls, scams, and state-sponsored chicanery going on.

The big news is that Criterion has announced their January Blu-ray slate, which includes Abbas Kiarostami’s 24 Frames (Spine #956 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 1/8, an update of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (Spine #137 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 1/15, Elaine May’s Mikey and Nicky (Spine #957 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Spine #958 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 1/22, and finally Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night (Spine #959 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 1/29. [Read on here...]

First, Lionsgate has just officially set Evil Dead 2 for release on 4K Ultra HD on 12/11. The release will include Blu-ray and Digital copies in addition to 4K UHD. Audio will be the previous English 5.1 DTS-HD, but HDR will be available in Dolby Vision format on the 4K. In addition to the previous audio commentary, the 4K disc itself will include a new tribute featurette called Bloody and Groovy, Baby! All of the previous Blu-ray extras will carry over on the included BD disc. Best of all, SRP is just $22.99. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has set The Equalizer 2 for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 12/11, with the Digital release due on 11/13. The disc will include a Retribution Mode with Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua. 11 deleted and extended scenes, a pop-up trivia track, and 4 featurettes. [Read on here...]

All right, while it hasn’t yet officially been announced by Disney, we expect that to happen very soon. So the big story today is that Disney will be releasing its animated feature The Lion King on 4K Ultra HD on 12/4. The title is already listed on Best Buy Canada and we expect it to appear elsewhere soon. Meanwhile, here’s a look at the official cover artwork (at left).

MPI is releasing Fyodor Bondarchuk’s 2017 Russian science-fiction epic Attraction (aka Prityazhenie) on Blu-ray and DVD on 12/4. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Fyodor is the son of the legendary Russian filmmaker Sergei Bondarchuk (War and Peace). We’ve been wanting to get a look at this film for a while, so we’re thrilled to see it finally coming in the States. [Read on here...]

In news today, we have more word from retailers that Disney is going to be bringing The Lion King to 4K UHD by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Wreck-It Ralph has now appeared for 4K UHD pre-order on Best Buy with a street date of 11/6, the same day as The Incredibles 2. [Read on here...]

Many more Blu-ray and DVD reviews are coming; I’m personally working on 4K reviews of Ant-Man and the Wasp, The Evil Dead, and Hook, with more on the way. So watch for those over the next few days. [Read on here...]

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